Bike News Roundup: A bike path xylophone

That’s right. It’s a bike path that is also a xylophone. It plays a tune as you ride. Two designers presented the idea for the Seoul Cycle Design Competition. Freaking awesome. From Treehugger.

Streetsblog gives some love to Dan Bertolet and calls the Alaskan Way tunnel debate “one of the most gripping local transportation debates in the country.”

Speaking of Dan Bertolet, I bet that car hater is really excited the City Council has been discussing closing Pike in Cap Hill to car traffic on weekend nights … wait, huh?

Josh Cohen lays out the Bicycle Alliance of Washington’s legislative agenda. In the plans: More bicycle and pedestrian components in traffic school, 20-mile per hour speed limits in more areas and a clarified passing law mandating at least three feet (right now it says “at a safe distance”).

Frustrated by cars and pedestrians blocking the bike lanes? It could be worse (flip though the images for a ride in a NYC bike lane). I must say, while it is annoying (and dangerous) for pedestrians to walk in bike lanes, the idea of an “express sidewalk” is pretty cool.

One Response to Bike News Roundup: A bike path xylophone

8th avenue is by far the worst. I never even bother with the bike lane there. It is the worst place you could possibly ride on that street. I take one of the two center lanes, or split lanes, according to conditions. If I hit a gap in the lights and traffic gets moving, I move to the either the far left or far right lane and take the lane there.

Having ridden in NYC extensively each of the last 4 summers, I can tell you that while things are improving, the way EVERYONE in NYC treats bike lanes is a joke, including many cyclists. I quickly learned to not bother going more than 1 block out of my way to hit a bike lane in congested areas because 85% of the time I will find the bike lane blocked and will end up taking the lane anyway. (Outside of Manhattan, and the most congested parts of Queens and Brooklyn however it is much better) Pedestrians walk in the bike lane or stand in it to hail cabs. Police cars park in them. Many cyclists ride the wrong way in the lane. And delivery vehicles and cabs …. Iwon’t even bother. I have even seen people set up chairs and tables from Starbucks in the bike lane at Times Square.